India objects to US immigration bill
August 8, 2013, 10:16 am

India’s Parliament has been advised the country’s $100 billion domestic IT industry could be adversely hit by the proposed US Immigration Reforms Bill.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma expressed India’s dissatisfaction with the proposed reforms bill during his recent visit to the United States.

Sharma sent a written response to the Upper House of the Indian Parliament saying he has conveyed to US officials that the temporary movement of skilled professionals should not be equated with immigration.

The proposed bill seeks several changes including higher visa costs and companies with more than 50 per cent of their workforce made up of H-1B visa holders will be banned from bringing in any additional workers from 2016.

The bill has already been passed by the US Senate but is pending before Congress which is currently in a five week recess.

In meetings with the US trade representative and the commerce secretary, Sharma “expressed India’s strong concerns over the proposed US Immigration Reforms Bill and its adverse impact on the Indian IT industry”.

Once passed by the House of Representatives, the bill will be signed into law by US President Barack Obama.

The US Senate recently criticised the ‘localisation drive’ under which India has stressed on technology transfer and local sourcing in return for access to its growing markets.

57 founding members, many of them prominent US allies, will sign into creation the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Monday, the first major global financial instrument independent from the Bretton Woods system.

Representatives of the countries will meet in Beijing on Monday to sign an agreement of the bank, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. All the five BRICS countries are also joining the new infrastructure investment bank.

The agreement on the $100 billion AIIB will then have to be ratified by the parliaments of the founding members, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing in Beijing.

The AIIB is also the first major multilateral development bank in a generation that provides an avenue for China to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest-growing region.